Buffett donates $3.17 bln to Gates charity, four others

Warren Buffett makes his largest contribution in a more than decade-long plan to give away his fortune

The Gates Foundation, which focuses on improving health, reducing poverty and aiding education, is receiving about $2.42 billion of Monday's donations

Published 2:09 AM ET Tue, 11 July 2017
Reuters

Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris

Warren Buffett and Bill Gates are friends and leading voices promoting philanthropy.

Warren Buffett on Monday donated roughly $3.17 billion of Berkshire Hathaway Inc stock to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and four family charities, his largest contribution in a more than decade-long plan to give away his fortune.

The billionaire investor's 12th annual donation to the five charities comprised 18.63 million Class "B" shares of Berkshire, valued at $170.25 each as of Monday's market close.

Berkshire said Buffett, 86, has made $27.54 billion in donations since 2006 to the five charities, including roughly $21.9 billion to the Gates Foundation.

Buffett still owns about 17 percent of Berkshire, the Omaha, Nebraska-based conglomerate he has run since 1965, despite having donated more than 40 percent of his holdings.

The Gates Foundation, which focuses on improving health, reducing poverty and aiding education, is receiving about $2.42 billion of Monday's donations.

Buffett also donated to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, named for his late first wife, and the Howard G. Buffett, Sherwood and NoVo Foundations, respectively overseen by his children, Howard, Susan and Peter.

Following Monday's donation, Buffet remained the world's fourth-richest person, according to Forbes magazine.